Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890, 1887-02-19
THE BELT COUNTRY.
Something Regarding the Country and
its Mines, Creeks, Rivers and Mag
nIfcent Scenery,
n~lficent Scenery,
TCoutiaued J1'o,a ian. 29M 1871

tititSCIt
EContiaued from JaR. 10Th 1887.
Surprise creek is the east fork of Arrow
creek which takes its rise in the Belt
range, and is a mere brook in size, the
flow of water, however, being permanent
the wear round. Above the crossing Of the
road. the source of the stream is about two
miles distant, with two small tributaries
from the west. One of them at the back
of Wolf butte, is d basin shaped hollow,
covered with a young growth OF forest,and
is a model place as a camping ground for
Indian horse thieves. and it is here that
the Indians from the north last fall made
their camp prior to their raidlng the Basin.
Above this tributary, Surprise Brook can
yon becomes dry most OF the year, and Is
Il mere rocky gorge, the two mountains on
the west, which constitute the Wolf Butte
range having extremely steep slopes. As
cending the one next Wolf Butte by a
long though steep back bone, in a short
time we go beyond the limit OF trees. and
pass over another scene OF desolatlon,-
rocks piled upon rocks, nothing but rocks,
making progress anything but easy. Look
ING down on the west side side we see
limestone ravines cutting the slopes OF the
mountains in every direction, and the trees
having been burnt at some prior period,
give the landscape a gloomy appearance.
Looking southwark We see that Surprise
brook heads right at our feet, a short pre-
cipitous high backbone separating it from
d tributary Of Dry Arrow. On the top OF
this backbone. a little search will reveal
fossils of radiates, molluiks, etc, OF a
generation signifying the carboniferous
limestone. Returning to the mountain we
find it is ttachyte, being Of a formation
Of an utterly different character to that
place just spoken Of. The mountain must
be very high, for as Wolf ute is 4,.60
feet above sea level, from observations L
have made | should judge this mountain
to be about 5000 feet in height.
Leaving Surprise brook by a good
wagon road, we pass over a low divide al
most imperceptibly, and yet this is the
divide of the watershed of Arrow and the
Judith rivers. A new conner will at once
perceive here the usual characteristic OF
the Belt range. and that is the narrow but
high ridge of mountain foothills which
surround the mouth and east side of the
range; leaving narrow valleys between
them and the range, and through which
generally runs a good mountain road.
Descending into the valley Of Dry Wolf
creek by gentle grades, the parkllhe
openings to our right are very noticeable,
and are very agreeable to the eye after the
monotony OF the prairie
Dry Wolf creek is one OF those numer-
u creeks in the Belt range, which lex
cept in the spring freshets) become per-
fsctly dry before leaving the mountains.
1t is a very interesting locality, however,
on account of the fossils, minerals and
mountain scenery. Taking a good wood
road which comes from Wolf creek below,
we pass Col. Walls ranch at that point
where the creek issues from the noun
tains, From here for the next three miles
the CANYON is of the most romantic charac-
ter: the formation being limestone the
rocks assume the strangest shape, and
when mineral veins pass d the lime
stone the latter is stained red, brown, vel
low, etc, heightening the beauty Of the
scenery, by the diversity Of colors.
After passing these limestone cliffs the
valley widens out into large parks. Big
Badly 5000 feet above sea level being the
prominent object, as at the north end OF
the mountain is one place where the snow
never melts. In the large park where
Badly creek come in, Dry Wolf is quite
a large stream, till at the mouth Of Lion
creek, it is often hub deep to a wagon. At
this confluence of Lion creek, is where the
old Yoyo trail from Barker ascends the
divide. Several good pines are located
in this vicinity and more are yet to be
found. Lion Creek, after a short distance,
is utterly impossible for man or beast on
account of the underground, but the short
distance yet ~prospected shows float mag
netic iron ore of size. Turning
up Main Dry Wolf, through a large open
park, bounded on the east side by dense
masses of beautiful timber, a magnificent
view is presented to the eye. On the left
is seen Bandbox mountain rearing its bald
head high above Lion creek, the mountain
ridge gradually getting higher till 1ogo
Badly scars high above its ~neighbors 1t